Hollywood and its associated careers has been in existence for many decades now, having made a start on the backs of multiple really talented and wonderful spokespersons and actors or actresses. How has this developed? Let’s talk about some of the evolution of female-led roles and acting in Hollywood to give you an idea of some amazing roles and stories that helped build and strengthen this business.
Prior to 1930, the television industry for women was actually incredibly open and free. The content that included women was everything from acting to everyday life, including the not-so-loved part of womanhood that is often shunned or hushed during modern culture. Women on TV even had discussions about abortion, sex lives, adventures, and so much more.
This was because the early television days needed and prioritized female audiences for their viewing, since men were often not watching television due to the work schedules and ethic of the time. But in 1930, a code of conduct and changes to the industry was laid down known as the Motion Picture Production Code which changed some of that.
Even after this, women still had major lead roles and daredevil characters throughout the 30s and 40s as the audience of film watching continued to be mainly female. This was alongside the major feminism movement and work for women’s suffrage, working as an industry to empower this idea and women through powerful role models in film.
As the fight for women’s rights died down with other issues taking prevalence and less people affording things like television or film viewing, this industry took a hit. But we still have seen in the decades since television took off that women are important to play characters and make waves through film.
Important female-led characters and films have made huge differences over the years in rights issues. For example, black women were some of the earliest acting-based roles to have less stereotypical characteristics of violent or powerless characters when African American actors began to have more space in Hollywood options.
And even today, huge role models and actresses continue to pave the way forward to show females and young girls all around the world that women can be as much as they want to and take on things that we wouldn’t expect. More female roles for lead in movies, more superhero and superpower based female characters, and so much else are coming to life right in front of us.
It really goes to show how incredible the movie and film business can be for providing a unique standpoint on social issues and giving more perspective to life for those viewing. It also shows how much opportunity there has grown to be over time for things in the world of Hollywood and for more diverse roles to slowly have places in this big world.
Learning about the way that leaders in this career and industry path have made their livings and shifted in and out of the spotlight over the years can be a really interesting thing! There are so many big names in the past and present of Hollywood that can really shed insight on how this industry has made such big waves when it comes to important topics like women’s rights, activist causes, diversity inclusion, and much more. But this timeline helps!